Emile (On Education · Full Two Volumes)

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (French), translated by Li Pingou
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Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Emile, or On Education, an important work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778), a French bourgeois democrat and outstanding Enlightenment thinker. Written in 1757, it was first published in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1762. At the time of its publication, it caused a sensation throughout France and some bourgeois countries in Western Europe, with a profound impact. This book is not only Rousseau's monograph on bourgeois education but also his renowned work on expounding bourgeois social and political thought. After the bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands and England in the 16th and 17th centuries, 18th-century Western Europe was in a period of increasingly developed and expanding capitalist economy, with feudal society on the brink of collapse and an even deeper bourgeois revolution about to occur. This situation was particularly evident in France. At that time, France was a backward feudal autocracy, and Louis XIV's arrogant maxim, "L'état, c'est moi" (The state is me), reflected this autocratic regime. Feudal nobles and clergy, relying on feudal monarchy and the divine right of kings, imposed heavy oppression on the Third Estate, leaving the entire Third Estate, including the bourgeoisie, completely politically powerless. Economically, feudal nobles and clergy owned vast amounts of land and controlled fiscal and tax authority, brutally exploiting and plundering the Third Estate, especially the. However, with the development of capitalist production, the economic power of the bourgeoisie grew, making it unbearable for them to tolerate such political powerlessness. Opposing feudal oppression, overthrowing the monarchical autocracy, and removing obstacles to capitalist development became the common demand of the Third Estate. The works of Rousseau and other bourgeois Enlightenment thinkers reflected this demand. Emile, in particular, was Rousseau's way of opposing the feudal education system and expounding his bourgeois educational ideas through the education of his hypothetical subject, Emile. Rousseau's educational thought stemmed from his natural philosophy. According to this philosophy, he believed that humans are born free and equal; in the state of nature, everyone enjoys these inborn rights, but after entering the civilized state, inequality, privilege, and servitude among people arise, causing them to lose their natural essence. To change this unreasonable situation, he advocated "natural education" for children, adapting to the natural development process, with the goal of cultivating "new people" for the bourgeois rational state. In Emile, Rousseau poured into this ideal of nurturing such "new people." Rousseau's so-called natural education means submitting to the eternal laws of nature and allowing the free development of the human body and mind. Therefore, he believed that the means of this education were life and practice, enabling children to gain the knowledge they needed through direct experience and sensory perception. He advocated teaching with real objects and intuitive methods, opposing rote memorization of abstract texts. Rousseau's natural education, in the context where schools were subordinate to the church and religious doctrines constrained children's individual development, was undoubtedly revolutionary and progressive. His pursuit of bourgeois "individual liberation" was objectively in line with social progress at the time. His proposed methods of teaching with real objects and intuitive instruction, though simple, still had some reference value. However, Rousseau was an idealist "deist," and his advocacy of "child-centered education" based on children's personal interests and curiosity, as well as his one-sided emphasis on allowing children to acquire knowledge through personal activities while neglecting systematic scientific and cultural education for children, paved the way for the later spread of pragmatic educational thought in capitalist countries. Closely linked to natural education, Rousseau also advocated labor education for children, as well as education in freedom, equality, and brotherly love, teaching them to acquire the means of livelihood, avoid a parasitic life dependent on high-ranking officials and wealth, resist the exploitation of the powerful, and enjoy the rights bestowed by nature freely, with all people being equal and helping one another. Rousseau believed that only through such education could children's minds be spared from the stifling influence of feudal religious prejudice, enabling them to develop early the ability to govern themselves and maintain their natural habits. When they grew up, they would be skilled in choosing a good system, managing a small plot of land or workshop without servitude, and pursuing their own happiness. Rousseau's educational ideas were undoubtedly a powerful critique of the feudal autocratic education and religious doctrines of the time, and they played a significant role in inspiring the Third Estate, especially the bourgeoisie, to rise against feudal autocracy. However, these educational methods could at most cultivate spontaneous petty bourgeoisie. As Engels pointed out, "The great thinkers of the 18th century, like all their predecessors, could not go beyond the limitations imposed by their own time." Rousseau was no exception. Although his educational thought represented the interests and demands of the bourgeoisie and played a progressive role in opposing feudalism at the time, due to the limitations of his era and his own class, he did not understand the science of class and class struggle. Consequently, he did not realize that education had always been class-bound since the division of humanity into classes, serving the interests of a certain class. For this reason, his theory of natural education was later exploited by many monopolistic bourgeois educators, who promoted bourgeois education as "classless" and "apolitical," serving the imperialist deception of the working people. This book is divided into five volumes. Based on the age of children, Rousseau proposed principles, content, and methods of education for different age groups. In the first volume, he focuses on physical education for infants under two years old to ensure their natural development. In the second volume, he argues that children between two and twelve years old are still in a mental "sleep" period, lacking the ability to think, and therefore advocates sensory education for this age group. In the third volume, he believes that adolescents between twelve and fifteen years old, having gained some experience through sensory perception, should primarily receive intellectual education. In the fourth volume, he argues that young people between fifteen and twenty years old are beginning to enter society, so he primarily discusses moral education for them. In the fifth volume, he believes that due to the needs of natural development, he primarily discusses education for girls and love education for young men and women. Rousseau's idea of dividing education into stages based on age characteristics undoubtedly represents a major progress in the history of education, providing invaluable insights for the later development of bourgeois pedagogy, especially educational psychology. However, it should be noted that this division and the separation of physical, intellectual, and moral education into distinct methods are unscientific. Emile also had a certain influence on the Chinese educational community. As early as 1923, it was translated into Chinese from an English abridged version by Wei Zhaoji and published by the Commercial Press. This edition is based on the full French original and is published in two volumes. To balance the length of the two volumes, the part of the fourth volume on "Freedom of Conscience" and beyond has been included in the second volume. An appendix includes a chronology of Rousseau's life and a glossary of names and place names for reference.